Pepsi Board Approves Dividend Hike, $15 Billion Buyback

Hail, the return of the dividend! PepsiCo.'s (PEP) board approved a plan on Monday to raise its annual dividend to $1.92 per share from $1.80 per share, which represents a 7% increase. The company also said it will buy back roughly $15 billion in stock through June 2013.

For investors who favor dividend stocks, it's been a brutal couple of years, during which time many corporations pulled dividends altogether. But things are finally looking up: More than 40 companies from the S&P 500 raised dividends over the last couple months, and that includes consumer dependent businesses such as Wal-Mart (WMT) and Coca-Cola (KO).

The key takeaway is that the equity markets may be on the road to recovery. Of course, it probably won't happen overnight: As DailyFinance's Dan Burrows notes, it could take two to three years for dividends to return to the same levels as they were during the bull market.